Facebook removes group mocking 'Jew parking' in Australia

Facebook has recently removed anti-Semitic slurs following protests from an Australian Jewish leader, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported Tuesday.

Comments such as "Jew rats" and "F****** Mercedes Jews" were removed after Vic Alhadeff, the Chief Executive Officer of the New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies, lodged a complaint with the social networking Web site.

Students from elite Australian private school The Scots College, situated in the affluent Sydney suburb of Bellevue Hill, created the Facebook group, called "Jew Parking Appreciation Group", which disparagingly described the "Jew Parking" phenomenon as it occurs in the predominantly Jewish area of Bellvue Hill, often referred to as "Jew Hill."

Jew Parking is believed to be derogatory term for taking up more than one parking space.

The site included links to another network created by Scots College students with messages in support of Holocaust denial and a link to an internet address called "F*** Israel and their Holocaust bullshit."

One student involved in the group told the Sydney Morning Herald the group was part of a "big in-joke" known to students from Sydney's private schools.

"There was no intention of causing conflict or racial hatred," the student said.

But Alhadeff told the Herald that "No jokes or comments which have a negative racial stereotype attached are inoffensive."

"Society has to send a clear message that those who indulge in racial hatred and other obscenities will be exposed and condemned," he said.

Scots principal Ian Lambert told the newspaper that an initial investigation found school computers were not used and that many of those allegedly involved were former students.

Around 45,000 Jews live in Sydney, with most concentrated around the eastern suburbs of Bellevue Hill, Bondi and Woollahra.

The incident came just days after a new report found anti-Semitic incidents in Australia have reached record levels.

Jeremy Jones, the director of community affairs for the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council, told the annual general meeting of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry that 652 anti-Semitic incidents were recorded between October 1, 2007 and September 30, 2008. This represents a two percent increase over the number of incidents recorded the previous year.

The report also expressed concern about the use of Web sites such as Facebook and video-sharing site YouTube to propagate anti-Semitism.